Maskiri nabbed for defrauding a US based Zimbabwean man in a goat deal
IN the sport and the entertainment industry, a GOAT is a label which represents greatness.
It’s a badge of honour.
The Greatest-Of-All-Time – a Pele in football, someone like Michel Schumacher in Formula One, Michael Phelps in swimming, Muhammad Ali in boxing or Michael Jackson in music.
In Zimbabwe, the word GOAT is now becoming synonymous with legal troubles and this has seen well-known people being arrested.
The trouble for businessmen Mike Chimombe and Moses Mpofu started when they could not deliver the GOATS they pledged they would provide.
They have just spent more than a year in remand custody. Yesterday, rapper Maskiri was also arrested in Chitungwiza and it’s a case which revolves around GOATS.
Police used a fake “birthday party performance booking” to lure him in.
Maskiri, who in recent years has rebranded part of his hustle by venturing into goat-rearing and promoting “imported Boer Kalahari Red breeds” on his social media pages, is accused of prejudicing a US-based Zimbabwean, Tonderai Chisoro, of US$1,500.
Police say none of the money has been recovered.
Chisoro told H-Metro he contacted the musician hoping to buy goats to boost his family’s pen back home. “I sent the money through Mukuru in three transactions,” he said.
“But when I started asking about the first delivery of five goats, the young man started changing goal posts. One day he was ‘deep in the rural areas’, the next day he wasn’t picking up his calls. Eventually he just went quiet.”
With no goats in sight and no communication, Chisoro activated his relatives in Zimbabwe, who then filed a report at Chitungwiza Police Station (CR559/11/25).
That is when the hunt for the rapper began.
According to police sources, two officers — identified as Dulani and Mushaninga — devised a sting operation.
They contacted Maskiri while pretending to be organising a birthday party and wanting him to perform.
A fee of US$300 was agreed, with the rapper even promising to bring fellow artist Tererai Mugwadi.
Yesterday afternoon, officers phoned him again, saying they had managed to raise US$200 as a deposit and invited him to Chicken Inn, Unit C junction.
As soon as Maskiri arrived, he was pounced upon and arrested, with stunned witnesses watching the rapper being whisked away.
Even the InDrive driver joined the chase, demanding his fare as officers took their suspect into custody.
Police say investigations are ongoing. – _*HMetro*_
